Surface texture effects in oscillatory squeeze films

Purpose This study aims to investigate the tribological behavior of an oscillatory squeeze film between parallel circular discs, considering the effects of surface texture element shape, including spherical cap, conical and cylindrical dimples and protrusions, together with cavitation. Design/methodology/approach A modified Reynolds equation with the Elrod–Adams algorithm is used to improve oscillatory squeeze film predictions. The equation and boundary conditions are discretized using the finite difference techniques and solved iteratively by the Gauss–Seidel method with an over-relaxation coefficient. The model is validated in untextured configurations against experimental data from the literature. Findings Results show that cylindrical protrusions produce the highest relative film pressure and cavitation region, whereas dimples of the same shape mitigate these effects. Increasing oscillation amplitude and frequency increases the relative pressure but also intensifies cavitation. Increasing texture element depth and texture density enhance load capacity for protrusions but reduce it for dimples. Originality/value The study of the effects of the shape and depth element of texture, texture density and oscillatory operating conditions contributes to the improvement of lubricated components, contact characteristics and thin film lubrication efficiency in practical engineering applications.